Shadow Work and Dark Night of the Soul Discussions - Soul Star Travelers of Elven World2024-03-28T13:10:34Zhttps://elvenworld.ning.com/groups/group/forum?groupUrl=shadow-work-and-dark-night-of-the-soul&feed=yes&xn_auth=noMasterclass On Inner Child Healing/Shadow Work/Heal Trauma & Spiritual Wounds By Matt Kahntag:elvenworld.ning.com,2023-03-26:2735650:Topic:1128432023-03-26T22:30:27.875ZSteven Hutchinsonhttps://elvenworld.ning.com/profile/StevenHutchinson
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Masterclass On Inner Child Healing/Shadow Work/Heal Trauma & Spiritual Wounds By Matt Kahn</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thank you to Amrit Sandhu of Inspired Evolution for…</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/11003692876?profile=RESIZE_400x"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/11003692876?profile=RESIZE_400x" alt="11003692876?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="363"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Masterclass On Inner Child Healing/Shadow Work/Heal Trauma & Spiritual Wounds By Matt Kahn</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thank you to Amrit Sandhu of Inspired Evolution for <a style="color: #4387c4; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;" href="https://hq247.keap-link010.com/v2/click/e549c0232d3989e555f0f63ecee90749/eJyNkE8LgkAQxb_LnCUplvUPREiEiNYh6hybDrSY67aOioTfvbWiU0HXeW9-j_fuQKiEoqSAEC63BfPAAYO51BIVrWtFIn-KLOB8zhy4SlXGpm41hPdvvx99unqcce4ADRqt5bCP1mmyi09ZskutVQtjM_7h8HlgSR_QZhslGYzjTzJWkjadhTcQkmlxqlRIW4uO5jqFEOkmdN2-72dD3VJ7xlleV24vKL-sumVkys5npTn7jaUJrVEV7y1SHF7M8QF_62Zu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this hour-long conversation</a> with Matt on YouTube. What a kind soul. They covered a LOT of ground as you can see by the title, and shared some smiles and belly laughs along the way. Enjoy the journey!</span></p>
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<div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px; line-height: 1.6;"><strong><span style="color: #bf9000;">All too often, the most important conversations that need to be had are not meant to be comfortable. No matter how your words are interpreted or received, they always remain the words that are needing to be said.</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><strong><span style="color: #bf9000;">Our words can always be conveyed with awareness, compassion, and clarity without being responsible for other people’s feelings and without confusing defensiveness with empowerment. As we learn to strike the right balance in our ability to communicate, we discover why it is so often stated — <em style="padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">only the truth will set you free.</em></span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><strong><span style="color: #bf9000;">All for Love,</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><strong><span style="color: #bf9000;">Matt</span></strong></p>
<p style="font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #bf9000;">Video -Heal Your Inner Child - <a href="https://youtu.be/Arkv84krb8s">https://youtu.be/Arkv84krb8s</a></span></strong></p>
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<p> </p> Jordon Paterson - Dark night Of The Soul..& How it Leads to an Awakening.tag:elvenworld.ning.com,2022-01-28:2735650:Topic:1065762022-01-28T22:47:24.802ZᏉℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።https://elvenworld.ning.com/profile/VladaMikahlSchoon
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Jordon Paterson - Dark night Of The Soul..& How it Leads to an Awakening.…</strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Jordon Paterson - Dark night Of The Soul..& How it Leads to an Awakening.</strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span><em>The dark night of the soul has been described as a Shamanistic experience by clinician Dr. Jordan B. Peterson in his work Maps of Meaning by saying, "The shamanic 'process of transformation' appears as the means by which cognitive systems are updated, when necessary; the affect that is released, during the process, is necessarily part of the experience. Every major 'step forward' therefore has some of the aspect of the revolutionary 'descent into madness...'" ~Paterson</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Depression can be a crushing blow to our conscious mind.</em><br/> <em>One moment life seems to be going along just fine, and the next we are ensconced in our own self-doubt and uneasiness about the future. The dark epochs of our life seem to come almost unbidden, and without any signs of letting up.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>When our world of explored territory—the predictable—is shattered and broken up into pieces of anomaly, we either let it engulf us into realms of anxiety, or use it like a magnifying glass to focus on what really matters.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Given that we can’t experience our own competence without some kind of struggle, we learn to appreciate the times we are tested the most, knowing that every dark night is followed by a rising sun. Our evolution as beings on this planet comes at a cost—and the gristmill of hard times is what releases our immaturity and helps us blossom into the next stage of our life.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Welcome to the dark night of the soul—a moment in time when depression, psychosis, nervous breakdown, and the feelings of lost hopelessness are an everyday occurrence.</em></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>I’m here to tell you that your misery may be for good, it may be a long time coming, and it may be the best thing that can ever happen for your own personal spiritual and social evolution. My dark night of the soul came during the peak of my career living inside a Hindu monastery. After 12 years of living as a monk, the dark night of my soul showed me who I was, where I was going, and what my life was for.</em></p>
<h3 id="c057" class="hd he bz at as hf ex hg ez hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho" style="text-align: center;"><em>Dark Night Philosophy</em></h3>
<p id="531e" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Much has been written about this metaphysical subject if you know where to look. Essentially, the “<a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/03/how-to-recover-from-the-dark-night-of-the-soul/">dark night</a>” of your soul is not just a bad day; it’s a complete reboot of your entire operating system. When we get to a certain age, typically around 17 to 35, we become who we are going to be for the rest of our lives. With enough data—life experience—coming from our upbringing, media, role models, community, and traveling, we overlap the young “us” with a newer version of who we are supposed to be. This overlapping, or superimposition, of old and new creates friction, friction creates heat, and the pain of shedding our old skin—values, morals, belief systems—becomes evident.</em></p>
<p id="9673" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Our world that used to be so solid and sure is now falling to pieces.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>The trouble is that when this kind of transition begins to happen, it’s hard to tell where it came from, where it will take us, and if we will ever be the same again. Losing the only identity we’ve known for years—possibly forever—is what causes madness, relieved only when the new identity takes over. The event is also known as the death of the ego, and the ego never goes down without a fight.</em></p>
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<p id="dab2" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>The dark night of the soul has been described as a shamanistic experience by clinician Dr. Jordan B. Peterson in his work Maps of Meaning by saying,</em></p>
<p id="f62a" class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>“The shamanic ‘process of transformation’ appears as the means by which cognitive systems are updated, when necessary; the effect that is released, during the process, is necessarily part of the experience. Every major ‘step forward’ therefore has some of the aspect of the revolutionary ‘descent into madness…'”</em></p>
<p id="0ce4" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Peterson’s “descent into madness” is hardly desirable but entirely relatable. People have these moments of despair at some point in their life, and insanity is not a superfluous way to describe it. The liberating aspect about this topic is knowing that the pain we experience is not necessarily in vain. Your troubles may have meaning hidden inside them and a lesson to be learned at the end of the dark and scary tunnel. Once the ego is under our control, life itself becomes something to enjoy as we move through it with ease, seeing it for what it really is.</em></p>
<p id="6e24" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>British mystic and spiritualist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brunton">Paul Brunton</a> wrote an entire book on the subject of transformation through psychosis.</em></p>
<p id="86c6" class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>“The most dangerous feature of the ‘dark night’ is a weakening of the will occurring at the same time as a reappearance of old forgotten evil tendencies. This is the point where the aspirant is really being tested, and where a proportion of those who have reached this high grade fail in the test and fall for several years into a lower one.”</em></p>
<p id="9fff" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>It’s as if the dark night is a right of passage that occurs when our intelligence is ready to break free from the tyranny of our ignorance. It certainly felt that way for me, but I had the advantage of knowing—and hoping—it would happen.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>In monk training, one is expected to reach the dark night of the soul, and an accomplished monk actually looks forward to the experience of ego-death. A right of passage, yes, but also a moment where the monastic candidate can discover who he actually is: monk or man. The episode brings with it a life path: make it through to the end and decide to stay a monk, or use this new perspective on life outside in the world. I chose the world.</em></p>
<p id="c3c8" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>For those outside in the world already and going through their own ego-death, their dark night of the soul will determine if they are to continue learning from their experiences, or go through life thinking “life’s a bitch, then you die.”</em></p>
<h3 id="d1a5" class="hd he bz at as hf ex hg ez hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho" style="text-align: center;"><em>The Disintegration</em></h3>
<p id="0372" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>My test finally came during my 10th year as a monk. I hadn’t found Dr. Peterson’s “shamanistic” explanation of the phenomenon until after it had happened. The text not only explained to me what had transpired, but it gave me the answer of what to do next now that it had occurred.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>While living in a controlled environment of spiritual and theological growth, I had always anticipated the long-awaited ego-death, but had no idea how to actually go through it. It wasn’t until after that I realized we simply endure it, and it wasn’t until months later that I realized we endure all things in life, whether we want to or not.</em></p>
<p id="6b4a" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>This 10th year of my monk life meant I was to be promoted to yogi rank, a position of great trials and inner striving. I was blessed in our traditional Hindu temple setting and given the typical sacraments: new robes, beads, and a bamboo staff to walk with wherever I went. Of course, until now I had been through several transforming periods thinking that they were all as bad as it could get—but I was wrong.</em></p>
<p id="8321" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>The dark night of the soul can best be explained as a disintegration—the process of losing cohesion or strength, or coming to pieces—because the reality that is formerly known and explored suddenly becomes torn apart piece by piece. What was once solid is now fluid; what was once known is now a mystery. Emotions can change due to the slightest trigger, darkness and despair become your friend, and the thought of being as you once were becomes unthinkable, while simultaneously not knowing who else you could be.</em></p>
<p id="4fd2" class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>“Those who maintain their heads during the ‘journey into the underworld’ return—contaminated by that underworld, from the perspective of their compatriots—with possibilities for re-ordering the world and, therefore, for maintaining sanity and stable life.” ~ Peterson</em></p>
<p id="6b27" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>For me, it lasted three months. And, it was clear that the entire monastic community knew what I was facing. I rarely spoke during that time, never smiled, not even a laugh came out of me—and knowing me, that is rare. My insides felt like they were being burned, my skin was hot, I didn’t know or care how I looked. It was as if a dark grey cloud loomed over me and inside me. A feeling of hopelessness constantly enveloped my perspective, and I had to scream at times just to feel something. I remember cowering in corners at times, shaking back and forth, not knowing who I was or if the “I” that I remember would ever return.</em></p>
<p id="8bbd" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2019/05/awakenings-help-us-find-what-we-are-looking-for-our-beautiful-selves/">Spiritual transformation</a> is painful to say the least, and should change someone for good. If the subject is not transformed, then another more permanent and disastrous “descent” is needed. Life has a way of bringing altering experiences our way, and if we don’t see them as enhancing, not taking away from, our well-being, then they will come over and over again until we extract the knowledge. This could be a theory as to why we are born in the first place.</em></p>
<p id="e759" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>The entire event is a death and rebirth. The old is dying to make way for the new, and you remain the watcher all throughout. The subject, once appearing to make a change from mediocrity and evolve beyond what they are normally destined to achieve, feels their old self begin to decay—during which time the sorrow of losing oneself takes place.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>When the world is ready for the new being to take action, the weight of the burden lifts, health is restored, and a new day has begun. One of the most challenging aspects of the situation is not knowing when it will all end and if any part of the old person will still exist. Who will take my place? is a constant wonder when enduring ego-death during the dark night.</em></p>
<p id="435a" class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>“The revolutionary hero is the individual who decides voluntarily, courageously, to face some aspect of the still-unknown and threatening.” ~ Peterson</em></p>
<h3 id="beb5" class="hd he bz at as hf ex hg ez hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho" style="text-align: center;"><em>The Hero</em></h3>
<p id="ac2e" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>After we are torn up into pieces, burned alive in a metaphorical fire of metaphysical purification, and spit back out, we become the mythological hero of our own story. The old us could have never challenged our past, present, future, community, family, but the hero can—and thrives in such propositions. Born anew, spontaneous, healthy, prepared, creative, the individual now has a restructured value system and is ready to explore more meaningful ventures in life—ones that adhere to their own belief systems. The status quo is no longer sufficient, and systems that once were part of the old regime now must change along with the hero.</em></p>
<p id="e6ed" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Having known that change arises from chaos, the hero seeks to explore various boundaries of known and safe territory and go through them, converting them—affecting old chaotic reality into new and ordered form. More efficient, effective, and alive, the hero’s new mission is to never be the same again, and bring all of their being with them in everything they do. Significance is now sought after in every culture, tradition, and act. Praise or blame is no longer a concern as the hero manifests change and seeks to disrupt the normal flow of life.</em></p>
<p id="781e" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>For the hero, the new constant is change. Older systems once led by regularity now cannot bear the chaotic emergence that the hero surrounds themselves by, and crumbles. This is how old systems get destroyed and resurrected, and in order to stay the same, the old schemas must never allow heroes to enter. Thus, cultures and traditions eventually die out and lose traction as every generation breeds new heroes to change the face of history itself.</em></p>
<h3 id="dcfc" class="hd he bz at as hf ex hg ez hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho" style="text-align: center;"><em>The Hero’s Dilemma</em></h3>
<p id="fcc9" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Our own spiritual evolution is somehow limited by group identity. That is to say, the more investment into group identity and interest, the more we lose ourselves, our individuality, and our own personal purpose and meaning. The group identity is considered a type of order in ancient mythology, and it is order and the mediocre that destroy the hero’s personal pursuit of meaning—and that very meaning is what gives us our identity.</em></p>
<p id="a992" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>What does the hero seek? The alteration of chaos into order.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>It is the alchemistic transformation of chaos into order that gives us, the hero, our purpose and meaning in life. Without it, we get engulfed by mediocrity and slowly die inside—thus limiting our pursuit of what means the most to us. Without the struggle of striving for what we believe in, we adhere to old systems of morals that don’t belong to us. The more we cling to someone else’s dream, the more we lose hope in humanity, in the future, and in life itself.</em></p>
<h3 id="67c2" class="hd he bz at as hf ex hg ez hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho" style="text-align: center;"><em>The Hero’s Journey</em></h3>
<p id="06c1" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs hp gu hq gw hr gy hs ha ht hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>Seeking chaos means to find what makes you wake up in the morning. Find out what makes you you. The very seeking of our personal interest is what gives purpose to our life, and taking one step after another toward that interest is our meaning. It all begins with the breakdown of group identity into personal freedom. The breaking down is what causes ego-death and the dark night of the soul.</em></p>
<p id="5f97" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>While every human will experience pain and hardship, not everyone will experience the dark night of the soul. The need for change, alteration, and transformation doesn’t always enter the mind and being of the individual, so safe and orderly realities persist without drastic identity transformations.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>In the search for meaning and purpose, and when asking where our lives are going, we might need to wonder about the controlled crisis known as the dark night of the soul and if our life needs to take a dramatic spiritual alteration.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>How do we even begin applying for this position? How do we poke the mythological dragon of chaos into breathing fire on our souls, burning our ignorance from the inside out?</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>I think if it is supposed to happen, it will all by itself. One thing is for sure: we must constantly approach the unknown and unexplored areas of life in order to keep growing, expanding, and converting chaos into order as the hero of our own lives.</em></p>
<p id="7a16" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>With an ever-expanding global social culture, our mind’s ability to confuse itself also expands. After enough pressure builds inside the container of our souls, we either burst and break, or use the hot-house pressure-cooker of life to learn from the stress, use it to increase our capacity for pressure, and become more effective, powerful people than ever before.</em></p>
<p id="3580" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>To explain the solution to life’s experiences, our harshest hardships, and our own personal dark night of the soul in one word would be endure. To endure is our greatest asset in life, and without it, we never rise from our dark night and never explore that which we don’t know and what truly makes us happy. To endure suffering becomes the goal as we outweigh the meaning of living our own future or someone else’s.</em></p>
<p id="2d86" class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>This is why the mystic does not seek to lie to oneself and abandon interest, making us unimportant and human. But knowing our individuality creates purpose-giving-interest, the mystic explores the unknown, making our existence meaningful and divine.</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz at gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>We naturally seek a middle path in our heroic endeavors, not having too much chaos or too much comfort. The balance of the two—taking one step into the unknown while keeping one back in comfort and stability—becomes the meaning of our lives.</em></p>
<p id="b9bc" class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>“Rebirth is re-establishment of interest, after adoption of culturally-determined competence. The rebirth of interest moves the individual to the border between the known and the unknown and thereby expands adaptive competence. In this manner, a source acts through the individual, in the modern world, and extends the domain of history.”</em></p>
<p class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em>~ Peterson</em></p>
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<p class="gp gq bz hu gr b gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc" style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://www.elephantjournal.com/2019/12/the-dark-night-of-the-soul-how-it-leads-to-an-awakening-rajan-shankara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SOURCE:</a></em></p> Shadow Self: How to Embrace Your Inner Darkness (3 Techniques)tag:elvenworld.ning.com,2021-11-27:2735650:Topic:1054692021-11-27T12:54:42.903ZMorell Sunweaverhttps://elvenworld.ning.com/profile/Morell
<p class="entry-meta">Borrowed from: <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/</a></p>
<p class="entry-meta">by <span class="entry-author"><a class="entry-author-link" href="https://lonerwolf.com/about/" rel="author"><span class="entry-author-name">Mateo Sol</span></a></span> · Jun 12, 2021 · <span class="entry-comments-link"><a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/#comments">261 Comments…</a></span></p>
<p><img alt="Scary image of a person embracing their shadow self" class="aligncenter featured" height="527" src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/embracing-shadow-self-min-810x593.jpg" width="720"></img></p>
<p class="entry-meta">Borrowed from: <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/</a></p>
<p class="entry-meta">by <span class="entry-author"><a href="https://lonerwolf.com/about/" class="entry-author-link" rel="author"><span class="entry-author-name">Mateo Sol</span></a></span> · Jun 12, 2021 · <span class="entry-comments-link"><a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/#comments">261 Comments</a></span></p>
<p><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/embracing-shadow-self-min-810x593.jpg" class="aligncenter featured" alt="Scary image of a person embracing their shadow self" width="720" height="527"/></p>
<div class="entry-content"><blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Beneath the social mask we wear every day, we have a hidden shadow side: an impulsive, wounded, sad, or isolated part that we generally try to ignore. The Shadow can be a source of emotional richness and vitality, and acknowledging it can be a pathway to healing and an authentic life. – <em>C. Zweig & S. Wolf</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="intro">If you’re truly honest about growing, changing, and living life to the fullest, you will, at some point, come across many parts of yourself that you’ll find difficult – <em>if not completely disturbing</em> – to accept.</p>
<h4 id="h-these-ugly-and-frightening-parts-of-ourselves-are-elements-of-the-shadow-self-the-darker-side-of-our-nature">These ugly and frightening parts of ourselves are elements of the Shadow Self: the darker side of our nature.</h4>
<p>In the domain of psychology, renowned psychologist Carl Jung devoted a lot of thought to this problem of the “Shadow Self,” being deeply invested in the research of ancient esoteric knowledge and spiritual scriptures to not only treat the mind of man but his <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/what-is-a-soul/">Soul as well</a>.</p>
<p>In response to his serious preoccupation, Jung created the <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/archetypes-ultimate-guide/"><em>Archetypes</em></a> model, a concept wherein he believed our unconscious minds are fragmented or structured into different “selves.” These selves attempt to organize how we experience different emotions, situations, and challenges in life. Two of Jung’s major Archetypes are <strong><em>t</em><em>he Persona</em> and <em>the Shadow Self.</em></strong></p>
<h2 id="h-the-birth-of-the-shadow-self"><a id="birth_of_shadow_self" class="anchor" name="birth_of_shadow_self"></a>The Birth of the Shadow Self</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/shadow-self-4.jpg" alt="image of a skull representing the shadow self" class="wp-image-157956 entered lazyloaded" width="1280" height="853"/></div>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster. –<strong> Carl Jung, <em>“</em></strong><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Unconscious-C-G-Jung/dp/0486424995/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=lonerwolf-20&linkId=3031c2933220d8f353079fc64d9fda9b" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">On the Psychology of the Unconscious</a>“</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So what exactly is the “Persona” and “Shadow Self”? I’ll explore below:</p>
<h4 id="h-what-is-the-persona">What is the Persona?</h4>
<p>Well the <strong>Persona, according to Jung, defines <em>who we would like to be</em> and how we wish to be seen by the world.</strong> The word “persona” is derived from a Latin word that literally means “mask,” however in this instance, the word can be applied metaphorically, representing all of the different social masks that we wear among different groups of people and situations.</p>
<h4 id="h-what-is-the-shadow-self">What is the Shadow Self?</h4>
<p>On the other hand<strong>, the Shadow Self is an archetype that forms part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, instincts, impulses, weaknesses, desires, perversions, and embarrassing fears.</strong> This archetype is often described as the <em>darker side</em> of the psyche, representing <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/sacred-wild/">wildness</a>, chaos, and the unknown. Jung believed that this latent energy is present in all of us, in many instances forming a strong source of creative energy.</p>
<p>We are all born pure, like blank canvases. But at some point during our childhood development, we learn knowledge that teaches us to separate things into good and evil. The moment we eat from this tree of knowledge, our shadows are born and we begin to divide ourselves into multiple parts. Furthermore, in our cultural socialization process, we begin to sort out those traits within us that are acceptable to society (the Persona), and those that are unacceptable (which are later hidden away – the Shadow).</p>
<h4 id="h-this-is-where-the-persona-and-shadow-self-go-hand-in-hand-the-persona-is-the-lovable-face-we-present-to-the-world-while-the-shadow-is-the-face-we-hide-from-the-world">This is where the Persona and Shadow Self go hand-in-hand: the Persona is the lovable face we present to the world while the Shadow is the face we hide from the world.</h4>
<p>The creation of the inauthentic but socially-acceptable Persona birthed the creation of the authentic but damnable Shadow. Both are inseparable.</p>
<p>As Jung explained:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>What we call civilized consciousness has steadily separated itself from the basic instincts. But these instincts have not disappeared. They have merely lost their contact with our consciousness and are thus forced to assert themselves in an indirect fashion. This may be by means of physical symptoms in the case of a neurosis, or by means of incidents of various kinds, or by unaccountable moods, unexpected forgetfulness, or mistakes in speech… <strong>modern man protects himself against seeing his own split state by a system of compartments</strong>. Certain areas of outer life and of his own behavior are kept, as it were, in separate drawers and are never confronted with one another.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus, the dark shadow traits that we all possess accumulate in the corners of our unconscious minds, never becoming adequately integrated into our <em>conscious</em> minds because we never see our split state in the first place (due to our <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/ego-defense-mechanisms/">psychological <em>defense mechanisms</em></a>). And so we continue on accumulating these dark desires, motivations, and fears.</p>
<h4 id="h-this-lack-of-awareness-of-the-shadow-self-and-the-disconnection-from-our-true-whole-self-can-be-dangerous">This lack of awareness of the Shadow Self – and the disconnection from our true Whole self – can be dangerous.</h4>
<p>Through observing many of our <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/inner-work/">inner work</a> students, for example, I’ve come across certain individuals who have allowed their Shadow Selves to accumulate for so long that they’ve erupted and overpowered the person through depression or an unconscious accident that ended up manifesting their inner demons. The denial of the Shadow can lead to physical, emotional, psychological, and interpersonal consequences that last for a very long time.</p>
<h2 id="h-repression-of-the-shadow-self"><a id="shadow_self_repression" class="anchor" name="shadow_self_repression"></a>Repression of the Shadow Self</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/shadow-self-1.jpg" alt="image of a fallen angel symbolizing the shadow self" class="wp-image-157958 entered lazyloaded" width="1280" height="853"/></div>
<p>It’s understandable that the process of becoming civilized requires us to repress aspects of ourselves that do not fit in with the structured ideal of our society. However, it comes at a great cost to us. We are born whole and complete, but <strong>we slowly learn to live fractioned lives, accepting some parts of our nature but rejecting and ignoring other parts.</strong></p>
<p>A holiday to a different part of the world will show you how arbitrary some of these “good/bad” divisions are (that create the Shadow Self). In the West, for example, eye contact is perceived as confident and engaging, whereas in Japan it’s perceived as arrogant and rude. In the Middle East burping after a meal is a sign of pleasure, yet anywhere else in the world it’s seen as vulgar and uncouth. And in America, TV shows depicting violent murders are considered more acceptable than showing nudity or sexual acts, whereas in Europe it’s the complete opposite. These are just a few examples.</p>
<p>Basically, the repression of our negative traits or emotions in society is one of the biggest barriers in any person’s journey towards <a title="Involution; Inner Transformation And Self-Love" href="https://lonerwolf.com/self-love/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">self-love</a> and living authentically. <strong>How can you completely and wholeheartedly accept who you are if there are sides of yourself that you’re too afraid to explore?</strong></p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, the idea of the “Shadow Self” doesn’t only apply to psychology. Many ancient Shamanic teachings, including the ones I was taught, involved the preparation towards an illness or a spiritual death (by ascending into your own darkness or “Shadow Self”), and being reborn in an attempt to provide you with the experience and insight to heal yourself and bring that healing wisdom to the people of your tribe.</p>
<h4 id="h-how-spirituality-and-religions-contribute-to-the-repression-of-the-shadow"><a id="spirituality_religion_shadow_self" class="anchor" name="spirituality_religion_shadow_self"></a>How Spirituality and Religions Contribute to the Repression of the Shadow</h4>
<p>So, apart from society’s ideas of acceptable and non-acceptable behavior, what else causes such great repression of the Shadow Self? In truth, a lot of it actually comes from the endless cornucopia of “feel good” motivational teachings out there.</p>
<p>If you notice, a lot of modern spiritual and religious work revolves around moving towards the “light,” accepting the “light,” and seeking for the “light.” Yet by doing so, we ignore the entirety of what it is to be human! In fact, <strong>many of the spiritual and new age teachings out there provide an escape for those who do not want to be responsible for the entirety of themselves and their lives</strong>.</p>
<p>Understandably the “light” energies are usually represented with noble values such as love, peace, joy, harmony, and compassion. Many spiritual and religious movements completely ignore or condemn the darker elements such as anger, vengeance, control, fear, shame, competitiveness, jealousy, and lust. Because these darker characteristics are associated with negativity or “evil,” they’re avoided out of fear and buried even deeper within us. But this is a tragic mistake with dire consequences.</p>
<p><strong>The more our darkness is avoided, the more it grows within us, waiting like a volcano to gush out at any unexpected moment.</strong></p>
<h4 id="h-the-importance-of-integration-vs-spiritual-bypassing"><a id="integration_spiritual_bypassing" class="anchor" name="integration_spiritual_bypassing"></a>The Importance of Integration (vs. Spiritual Bypassing)</h4>
<p>Interestingly, many seekers of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/traps-of-spiritual-growth/">spiritual growth</a> think that somehow all of the negative qualities within themselves will eventually be transcended as they “awaken to their Higher Selves,” “work through their karma,” or “become more enlightened.”</p>
<p>Yet from my own experience, this is a form of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/what-is-spiritual-bypassing/">spiritual bypassing</a>: using spirituality to avoid everything uncomfortable within us instead of facing it with honesty and courage. Furthermore, actually <em>turning toward</em> your Shadow Self helps you to embrace these disconnected parts of yourself, creating more psychological and spiritual balance (wholeness). Denying your darkness only creates chaos and disharmony.</p>
<p>The keyword here is “<em>integration</em>,” which comes from the Latin word <em>integratus</em>, meaning <em>to make whole</em>. <strong>To integrate an inner quality is to take ownership and responsibility for it, rather than rejecting or denying it.</strong> The benefits are many: sanity, healing, greater compassion, calmness, understanding, and wholeness are all to be found in integration.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the opposite of integration is to <em>“disintegrate” </em>– or to become fragmented and divided into pieces. A person that “breaks down” or “falls apart,” for instance, is someone who has been unable to handle stress and who has ignored too many of their personality traits, especially Shadow Self traits to function normally. In reality, a fragmented person can <em>never</em> handle adversity because they have no whole center, and they’re always handling life from the corners of their personality parts. This is why integration is so essential: it helps us to become whole again.</p>
<h2 id="h-the-right-and-left-handed-paths"><a id="right_left_hand_path" class="anchor" name="right_left_hand_path"></a>The Right and Left-Handed Paths</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/left-handed-path-right-handed-path-shadow-work-min.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-157962 entered lazyloaded" width="1200" height="803"/></div>
<p>In esoteric branches of Hinduism such as <a title="Tantra" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tantra</a> or <a title="Western Esoteric" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_esotericism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Western Esoteric</a> occult teachings, they have what is called <em>Right</em> and <em>Left-handed paths</em> towards <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/oneness/">experiencing Oneness</a>, Enlightenment, or the <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/higher-self/">Higher Self</a>.</p>
<p>Throughout history, <strong>the left has always been associated with dark, radical or sinister elements.</strong> Even the etymology of the word “sinister” means “from the left side.” Also, in Muslim, Chinese, Judeo-Christian, and even Hindu religions, the left hand is associated with being the unclean side, which is most likely why some of these cultures use it to wipe their … behinds!</p>
<p>These days, <strong>the “right-handed path” is what most of us understand to be the pursuit for positive things</strong> such as overcoming personal flaws and limitations, purifying our sins, and anything else that helps us connect to our “higher selves.” The left-handed path, however, is associated with parts within us that are typically fought against, rejected, denied, feared, and thus it becomes our biggest inner hindrance, but at the same time, <strong>the key to our liberation.</strong></p>
<h4 id="h-the-truth-is-that-we-have-both-hands-not-just-one-and-we-must-learn-to-use-them-in-a-balanced-way-if-we-seek-to-live-a-balanced-life">The truth is that we have both hands, not just one, and we must learn to use them in a balanced way if we seek to live a balanced life.</h4>
<p>The right-handed path seeks to improve the personal self, overcome its flaws, but the left-handed seeks investigation, seeks to face the shadows in its pursuit of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/self-care-ideas/">self-care</a>. Just as is represented in the ancient symbol of the Yin and Yang, when you balance both opposites, the dichotomy of right and left will disappear.</p>
<p>Personally, I like to think that first there was darkness. Unlike light, darkness is infinite. Under every rock, you will find darkness, but light and darkness need each other to come into existence. <strong>Unless you learn to first embrace that darkness within yourself, you can never pursue the light of self-love in a balanced way.</strong></p>
<p>Many right-handed new age teachings talk about leaning towards the “higher chakras” and avoiding the lower ones. However, in the long term, this won’t be very helpful. Unless the foundation of your home is solid and stable, no matter how beautifully you decorate and work on the house itself, sooner or later your house will collapse and crumble down.</p>
<h2 id="h-13-types-of-shadow-selves"><a id="13_types_of_shadow_self" class="anchor" name="13_types_of_shadow_self"></a>13 Types of Shadow Selves</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/shadow-self-3.jpg" alt="image of a skull in a hoodie" class="wp-image-157957 entered lazyloaded" width="1280" height="720"/></div>
<p>All of us carry demons inside. Sometimes we catch fleeting glimpses of them, sometimes we witness them in full frontal chaos, but for the most part, we ignore and bury their existence either out of fear, guilt or pure shame. Discovering our demons is a vital part of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/inner-work/">inner work</a>.</p>
<p>Our inner demons come in many different shapes and varieties. While some are more ferocious than others, others don’t really seem to be all that monstrous at all – until we reap the devilish consequences later on in our lives.</p>
<p>Below I have categorized and ‘cataloged’ 13 different Shadows you might meet on your path. Some overlap with each other and many are interconnected, meaning that it’s not uncommon to possess more than a number of different Shadows:</p>
<h4 id="h-1-the-egotistical-monster">1. The Egotistical Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> primal fear of “not being good enough”; not existing, being nobody</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>arrogance, egocentricity, pompousness, inconsiderateness, self-indulgence, narcissism, excessive pride.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-2-the-neurotic-monster">2. The Neurotic Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> fear of life, others, and self; desire to regain control</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>paranoia, obsessiveness, suspiciousness, finicky, demanding, masochistic, compulsive behavior.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-3-the-untrustworthy-monster">3. The Untrustworthy Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> fear of life in general</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>secretive, impulsive, frivolous, irresponsible, deceitful, unreliable.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-4-the-emotionally-unstable-monster">4. The Emotionally Unstable Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> basic feeling of being “unlovable” and powerless; reaction to unresolved emotional pain</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>moody, melodramatic, manipulative, weepy, overemotional, impulsive, changeable.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-5-the-controlling-monster">5. The Controlling Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> basic mistrust of life, feelings of abandonment and “not being good enough”</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>suspicious, jealous, possessive, bossy, obsessive.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-6-the-cynical-monster">6. The Cynical Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> protection against feeling too vulnerable</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>negative, overcritical, patronizing, resentful, cantankerous.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-7-the-wrathful-monster">7. The Wrathful Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> fear of others, mistrust of life, closed heart</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>ruthless, vengeful, bitchy, quick-tempered, quarrelsome.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-8-the-rigid-monster">8. The Rigid Monster</h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> fear and rejection of the unknown, chaos, and <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/ego-death/">ego death</a></p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>uptight, intolerant, racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, obstinate, uncompromising, inflexible, narrow-minded.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-9-the-glib-monster">9. The Glib Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> distrust of life, others, and self</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>superficial, cunning, inconsistent, sly, crafty.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-10-the-nonchalant-monster">10. The Nonchalant Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> buried grief, fear, and shame (numbness is a defense)</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>emotionally detached, distant, indifferent, uncaring, unexcited.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-11-the-perverted-monster">11. The Perverted Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> repressed sexual energy, possible unresolved childhood wounds</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>sadistic, lustful, depraved, corrupt.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-12-the-cowardly-monster">12. The Cowardly Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> fear, disbelief in self</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>weak-willed, timid, fearful.</em></p>
<h4 id="h-13-the-naive-monster">13. The Naive Monster<strong><br/></strong></h4>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Root cause:</span> refusal to grow up, lack of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/individuation/">individuated</a> ego</p>
<p>This person displays the following characteristics: <em>puerile, petty, immature, illogical, simpleminded, vacuous.</em></p>
<p>How many of these inner Monsters can you relate to? Keep in mind that this list only explores the dark side of the shadow, not the light side (where the positive repressed qualities of our nature are buried).</p>
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<h2 id="h-embracing-the-shadow-self"><a id="how_to_embrace_shadow_self" class="anchor" name="how_to_embrace_shadow_self"></a>Embracing the Shadow Self</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/encounter-your-shadow-self-1.jpg" alt="Image of man inviting you to encounter your shadow self" class="wp-image-88912 entered lazyloaded" width="1280" height="766"/></div>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The secret is out: all of us, no exceptions, have qualities we won’t let anyone see, including ourselves – our Shadow. If we face up to our dark side, our life can be energized. If not, there is the devil to pay. This is one of life’s most urgent projects. – <em>Larry Dossey</em> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Words-Prayer-Practice-Medicine/dp/0062502522" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Healing Words</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our journey of <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/self-realization/">Self-Realization</a> is a bit like Dante’s Inferno.</p>
<p>Before making our way out of “hell” we must walk through the depths of our inner darkness. Many religions symbolize these experiences well. Two famous examples include the case of Jesus who had to face Satan in the desert and Buddha’s encounter with Mara (the Buddhist Satan) before his <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/spiritual-awakening/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spiritual awakening</a>.</p>
<p><strong>When I write about embracing or integrating your shadow self, I do not mean to indulge in any desire that arises within you.</strong></p>
<p>Indulging your anger, for instance, will simply result in more anger. <em>By embracing your inner darkness I mean that it is necessary for you to “accept” it.</em> Accepting your darkness will allow you to take responsibility for yourself, and once you truly acknowledge one of these dark traits instead of avoiding them, suddenly, they will stop having control over you.</p>
<h4 id="h-honesty-and-courage-are-crucial">Honesty and Courage Are Crucial</h4>
<p>By being honest with ourselves and accepting our shadow elements, it frees us up to truly witness the uncharted areas of our minds, allowing us to see that we are not these elements, but simply possess thoughts, feelings, and drives that come and go. You cannot simply go “beyond hatred” if you don’t first admit to yourself that you do in fact possess hateful feelings.</p>
<p>To completely experience <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/self-love/">self-love</a> we must learn to honestly face our Shadow Selves, and voyage into the dark, murky waters of the unknown courageously. Otherwise, every time we condemn other people for their shadow traits, we’re in essence condemning our hypocritical selves in the process.</p>
<p><em>A whole and balanced self is a reconciliation of all parts, an inner unification.</em></p>
<p>It is not an indulgence of the darker parts of our natures, but <strong>an acceptance and direct experience of them in the light of mindful awareness and deep honesty.</strong> This is the entire opposite of many self-denying traditional spiritual methods of subduing, denying, or ascetically disciplining the self. To live differently (as is the aim and motivation of this website), is to be authentic. And in order to be authentic, we have to face and embrace all parts of our inner selves – that which is culturally uncommon or bizarre.</p>
<h4 id="h-there-are-empowering-qualities-hidden-in-the-shadow">There Are <em>Empowering</em> Qualities Hidden in the Shadow</h4>
<p>It’s astounding to realize that often the mundane characteristics in people are the ones that are socially acceptable.</p>
<p>In essence, any “primitive” traits within us get sent to the Shadow, but at the same time, <strong>any creative, unique, innovative, and different qualities within us also get confined within the Shadow because they’re not socially acceptable.</strong></p>
<p>Exploring your darkness is not necessarily all doom and gloom. In fact, you’ll likely be surprised by the endless array of creative and interesting things you find that have been secretly buried away for years.</p>
<p>To accept and embrace your Shadow Self is to become Whole again and thus taste a glimpse of what authentic “holiness” feels like.</p>
<h2 class="notetip" id="h-3-illuminative-ways-to-encounter-your-shadow-self"><a id="shadow_work_practices" class="anchor" name="shadow_work_practices"></a>3 Illuminative Ways to Encounter Your Shadow Self</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lonerwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/shadow-self-2.jpg" alt="image of a gothic woman holding a cup symbolizing shadow work" class="wp-image-157959 entered lazyloaded" width="1280" height="853"/></div>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>I must also have a dark side if I am to be whole. – <em>Carl Jung</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="notetip">There are several different ways to get to know and explore your Shadow. If you wish to become a more whole and integration human being, it’s crucial that you face your Shadow and do some <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-work-demons/">shadow work</a>. I explore some simple shadow work practices below:</p>
<h3 id="h-1-draw-or-paint">1. Draw or Paint</h3>
<p>Art is the highest form of self-expression and also a great way to allow your Shadow to manifest itself. In Psychology, an effective way to better understand a client is through <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/art-therapy-ideas/">art therapy</a>: to allow them to draw whatever they’re feeling or thinking. But you don’t necessarily need a therapist in order to do this activity.</p>
<p>Simply get a blank piece of paper, find a quiet place, and turn your attention inwards. You may like to ask your Shadow, “what do you want me to know right now?” and then paint or draw whatever comes to mind. Even the strangest mental images or scenarios can hold a seed of wisdom, helping to reveal hidden feelings, thoughts, or memories.</p>
<p>Make sure you approach this activity non-judgmentally and with an open mind. When you fear judgment from yourself, you’ll be inhibited and won’t be able to benefit fully from this practice. So be gentle and receptive. Allow whatever to arise, arise. Remember that your Shadow is a <em>part </em>of you, but it doesn’t <em>define </em>you.</p>
<h3 id="h-2-write">2. Write</h3>
<p>Goethe’s <a title="Amazon Faust" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1497433061/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1497433061&linkCode=as2&tag=lonerwolf-20&linkId=UWN4FM7EQ3772XRR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Faust</a> is, in my opinion, one of the best works featuring the meeting of an Ego and his Shadow Self. His story details the life of a Professor who becomes so separated and overwhelmed by his Shadow that he comes to the verge of suicide, only to realize that the redemption of the Ego is solely possible if the Shadow is redeemed at the same time.</p>
<p>Writing a story where you project your Shadow elements onto the characters is a great way to learn more about your inner darkness.</p>
<p>If stories aren’t your thing, try <a style="user-select: auto;" href="https://lonerwolf.com/journaling/">journaling</a> or keeping a diary every day for a few weeks where you record both good and bad emotions, thoughts, and habits. This practice will help shine a light on the bright and darker elements of your nature. Reading through your journal entries can also help you recover the balance you need in your life, and accept both light and dark emotions within you.</p>
<p>Learn more about <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/how-to-journal/">how to journal</a>.</p>
<h3 id="h-3-use-the-world-as-a-mirror-projection-technique">3. Use the World as a Mirror (Projection Technique)</h3>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Shadow describes the part of the psyche that an individual would rather not acknowledge. – <em>John Elder</em></p>
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<p>Projection is at the very heart and soul of the Shadow: it’s how the Shadow hides and protects itself.</p>
<p>Quite simply, <strong>we project the qualities of ourselves that we dislike onto others so that we don’t have to deal with them within ourselves.</strong> Projection also helps us to avoid taking responsibility for ourselves and instead helps us to make <em>others</em> the culprits and scapegoats for our unresolved issues.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/psychological-projection/">projection</a> is actually a powerful shadow work tool that helps us explore our Shadow Selves when done deliberately. When you approach other people and the world at large with mindfulness, you’ll be able to discover who and what you project your Shadow onto (and why).</p>
<p>What’s interesting about the Shadow is that <strong>we not only project our negative traits and elements onto others but our good ones as well.</strong> It’s as if we unconsciously refuse to embrace our noble elements because the Ego is afraid that these positive elements will change and upset our current personality structure.</p>
<p><em>So how do we practice the projection technique?</em></p>
<p>In a nutshell, use the world as a mirror. Observe what you secretly like or dislike in other people, entertainment outlets (TV, books), and situations.</p>
<p>For instance, current movies and television shows reflect our deep interest in the darker aspects of ourselves. Why else would we have such fascination with this constant battle between good and evil forces? Superhero, fantasy, or action films depict the Heroes vs. Villains dichotomy, while we also fall in love with charming characters that embrace their dark sides such as Dexter, The Joker, or Walter White (Breaking Bad).</p>
<p><strong>Often our noblest Shadow traits are projected onto the people we like, admire or fall in love with.</strong> The opposite is also true: and the most defenseless of beings can become the carriers of your negative projected Shadow Self traits. Children, for example, provide the perfect outlet for our anger, frustration, and other negative emotions. The smallest of accidents or naughty actions can be punished with disproportionate and destructive wrath. Pets too are unfortunately just as vulnerable. Projection, for many of us, is always easier than assimilation.</p>
<p>Projection, no matter whether light or dark is always something detrimental. You not only burden another person with your dark elements or pressures of idolization, but you also avoid taking responsibility for your Shadow and lose the opportunity of finding a state of ecstatic <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/wholeness/" title="Wholeness: 3 Sacred Paths to Finding Your Inner Center">Wholeness</a>.</p>
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<p>So use the world as your mirror. Write down what you observe about yourself. Be open-minded and receptive. Show kindness toward yourself. Soon you will be on your way to reclaiming all parts of yourself and move closer and closer toward Wholeness.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center">***</p>
<p>Finally, a few more ideas for meeting your Shadow Self might include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Practicing meditation each day (for 30 minutes or longer) often shines the light on Shadow parts</li>
<li>Developing more <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/self-awareness/">self-awareness</a> (this allows you to become more conscious of your words, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, thus allowing you to identify your faults more easily)</li>
<li>Asking friends, partners, or loved ones what they feel are your greatest personality faults</li>
<li>Ensuring that you adopt an analytical, non-judgmental, and compassionate attitude toward yourself, rather than playing the role of the prosecutor, judge, or defender which hinders your ability to embrace your Shadow Self fully</li>
</ul>
<p>For more guidance, see our <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-work-demons/">shadow work</a> and <a href="https://lonerwolf.com/the-collective-shadow/">collective shadow</a> article.</p>
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<p>Free shadow self journal workbook:</p>
<p><a href="http://logoilibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/shadow_self_workbook.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://logoilibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/shadow_self_workbook.pdf</a></p>
</div> Dark Night of the Soul..tag:elvenworld.ning.com,2017-06-28:2735650:Topic:501882017-06-28T02:31:03.934ZᏉℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።https://elvenworld.ning.com/profile/VladaMikahlSchoon
<p style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Image result for dark night of the soul" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*GLrkZzZAYqjNLrf5U7aU7A.jpeg"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-6" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #800080;"><em>Dark Night of the Soul..</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>"Dark night of the soul"…</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"> <img src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*GLrkZzZAYqjNLrf5U7aU7A.jpeg" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #800080;" class="font-size-6"><em>Dark Night of the Soul..</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>"Dark night of the soul"</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Sounds like a threatening and much to be avoided experience. Yet perhaps a quarter of the seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through the dark night. In fact, they may pass through several until they experience the profound joy of their true nature.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Many seekers would encourage the dark night experience if they knew what it was. However, to one engaged in the dark night, suffering seems unending.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>The dark night occurs after considerable advancement toward higher consciousness. Indeed, the dark night usually occurs like an initiation before one of these special seekers is admitted into regular relationship with higher consciousness. The dark night also occurs to those who do not seek relationship but immersion or unity<span class="enhance"> </span>in the higher consciousness. While the term dark night of the soul is used broadly, its general meaning — in the field of higher consciousness — is <span class="enhance">a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope. </span>In the dark night you feel profoundly alone.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Feel You Cant Fit in...<a><span style="color: #008080;">The Dark Night usually develops this way:</span></a></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You, as a genuine seeker, have gone through many significant phases as you progress toward higher consciousness. Your faith is strong. You have kept loyal companionship with fellow seekers and perhaps you have already found a special teacher. You’ve experienced indications of the reality of higher consciousness and yearn to be more deeply in communion with it. You see the principles of a higher power at work in your life. Yet, all in all, you find yourself somehow painfully on the outside. You feel caught between your old way of living, your old tendencies and associations, and this nebulous, unreachable realm of higher consciousness.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You feel an exile in both places. You don’t belong in the old pastimes. in the old empty or numbing way of life, yet you somehow can’t fit in or feel at home in the fellowship of those who talk naturally of the higher consciousness and its reality. They are experienced, they are absorbed in it. They are loving, giving people. But you are unable to live, with full heart and mind, the way they do. They’re able to apply the principles of higher consciousness easily, yet it’s so hard for you. They have manifestations and proofs on a regular basis. You only stretch like a human mule after a receding corncob while pulling the heavy weight of your old tendencies behind you.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three">You try to be good, and often you can’t. You try to be loving and find at times your heart is hard like stone. Sometimes your projects fall down around your ears. You keep struggling and still you don’t break through. You understand the path is one of joy and yet your life seems to have been barren for a month or two, perhaps longer. Where did that early joy and zest go?</span></em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three"> <img src="https://wildlyfreewoman.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/600201_430092240364176_819329056_n.jpg" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></span></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008080;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em><span class="three"><span style="color: #333399;">Hanging on..</span>.</span></em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Up to this particular time there was joy, there was delight. But now there is only a hanging on, a dogged hanging on. You persist because you can’t conceive of going back to your old way of life. That seems impossible now. That would be like going to prison, living as if with a transorbital lobotomy.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You deeply want to have joy and fulfilment easily manifest prosperity, but something’s not working. You don’t know what it is but something’s awry, and your meditations have lost their luster. Sometimes, during rare meditations, you do experience brief moments of peace. Your agonizing mind and heart rest from their turbulence and even these fleeting times of calm are so deeply appreciated. Your light dance of life, which had gone on for some time, is now a trudging in what seems a devastated and alien land.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Your fellow seekers look at you and show their concern. Their words of kindness are valued but you feel you’re somehow incapable of responding well. Your heart is numb. At these times your friends try to cheer you up. They invite you to dinner. You seem to perform fairly well, despite the emptiness you feel inside. What else is there to do? You wonder if you have any right to be in their fellowship at all. You think of leaving town, but where would you go? What good would diversion be?</em></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008080;"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/ligonier-public-media/blog/blog-post-images/Spiritual-Depression_620.jpg" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>A number of your friends in the fellowship of this great path know what you are going through for they have been through it themselves. They feel the main thing to do is encourage you to go on. They know if you keep it up and do not quit you will succeed. They know if you quit you will be a self-reject and will return to the old life, forever a foreigner, being neither at home with it nor at home anywhere else. They recognize that your own higher self, out of love, is lifting you up into its embrace. They see you are being drawn into your dark night because</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em> Your inner potential has great stature</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Your crusty, old ego requires you go through the dark night in order to be transformed.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>Totally Alone....</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Other seekers, for various reasons, do not have to pass through the dark night. However, the dark night is your way.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Your night is a very difficult time. While others may one day envy you for the marvellous growth you experienced in such a short, intensified period, you will, because of the pain of your experience, always feel profound compassion for those whom you one day see going through a similar night.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Being caught between the old way of life and the new possibilities, your sense of alienation intensifies. Your sense of inadequacy and not knowing what to do next becomes gnawingly constant. You feel you would do anything to get out of this state, yet it is only your ego which is keeping you in it. However, this insight is impossible for you to grasp while going through your long night.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>And you feel so totally alone. Sure, you have friends and you appreciate them, but you are keenly aware they are not capable of feeling what you are feeling or knowing what you are going through. Sometimes they seem like clowns, sometimes they seem empty-headed, caught up in meaningless pursuits. They do not understand, you think, how much you are suffering or how you cry out and pray deep into each midnight. You try their advice but it doesn’t seem to touch the heart of the matter.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three">You begin to enter the dark night in earnest when you feel <span class="enhance">completely stranded. </span>In the fullness of the dark night you don’t know where you are spiritually. You’re separate from Source and man. You do not know where to turn. Your friends love you and wish you well but your condition does not improve.</span></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>The dark night is a very private matter.</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>The person in the dark night is generally able to function quite well despite inner suffering. Often your acquaintances never suspect that you are going through the dark night — they probably do not even know what it is. Only people close to you — especially friends along the path — can recognize your pain.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You feel like a hollow person doing the activities of life with no motivation except expediency. Your eyes seem deeper in your head. You are profoundly aware of the suffering of humanity and the cruelty of one person to another. You feel that cruelty and negativity far outweigh love and constructive action.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008080;"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3167/2708147364_92f2f77bee_z.jpg?zz=1" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>Midnight....</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Alone, and not wishing to be, unable even to express yourself to others, you enter midnight and the greatest intensity of the dark night. Here you have finally come to the time of sovereign solitude. In this precious time, which has no apparent prospects of love or happiness, you clearly perceive that nothing in the outer world has proven adequate to heal your condition. Nobody, not even your dearest friends and loved ones, can make you whole. Even if they have tried, and love you enough to try loving you forever, they can’t give you peace.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You eye your books and consider all the benefit you have gained from these extremely wise vessels of truth. Yet not one book, not one thought, goes deep enough inside you to where the affliction abides.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You look at your possessions, your money container. No material thing has been able to help you. No material means have worked. Nothing, no one, in the outer world has enabled you to come out of this dark night.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three">In your loneliness, you next — in a seemingly random process — notice that none of your thoughts have proven adequate to your suffering. Not one — even repeated fifty thousand times — breaks the inner storm and lets in light. God and higher consciousness seem so far away that perhaps they are unreal. Neither one has, despite your protracted exposure of yourself, done anything to ease or remove your agony. Nothing appears efficacious. Nothing works.</span></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Clearly, there is nowhere to turn. There is nothing to be done. All actions you considered have been tried. There is nothing to think, nothing to feel, nothing to do, nowhere to go. It seems you have to accept this defeat — or, you can persist in struggling against it. For awhile longer, you go about thinking, feeling, and doing other options that occur to you. But you realize in the midnight of your soul that you have tried every option you know of.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><img src="https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5048/5294303683_d21f9afc1e.jpg" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>The Peace Comes....</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Helpless, totally helpless, as well as ever so alone, you abide in this condition. And you accept your predicament. You accept that there is really, except for a murmured prayer to a remote Lord and a remnant of a shredded faith, nothing else left.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Suicide would be absurd. Suicide would be an act of arrogance and vanity. You have grown far beyond such primitive responses to your private agony. No, nothing to do. Nothing remains in this lonely helplessness. There is, without question, nothing you can do.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You abide. You accept your state. How have you gotten to this place? That’s insignificant. Musings and feelings aside, you wait. You feel you may have to stay this way forever, doing the regular day-to-day things, but in this mood of emptiness. Nothing. Nothing.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Then, it happens. A cosmic type presence comes into your room — sweetly, softly. You feel it filling you. Your mind is filled with mellow or bright light. Your heart, your still heart, is permeated with peace. This peace moves through your body like a cold spring of mountain water. It flows in your spine, your brain, and under your skin. Everywhere.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Also, this presence, this comforter, moves like a breeze across your arid mind and numb heart. Then, or a few days later, the fire of joy begins to smoulder. Here, abiding with nothing more to do, <span class="enhance">your ego drops away! </span>Your ignorant, arrogant, fearful sense of self falls away from you. You stand in light — a new being, a free being — transformed.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>Your Ego Sense....</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Believe it or not, that’s what the dark night is all about: transformation. Your ego, your limited sense of self, your inadequate complex of ideas about who you are had to be dissolved. Your ego was, you begin to see, eclipsing higher consciousness and your true nature. Your old sense of self was inadequate to your new hopes and proper state. Your suffering intensified because of a major misapprehension. You were too used to thinking of yourself based on inputs from your previous experiences in life. On and on through life, you gathered information and responses from the world which indicated to you what kind of person you were and are. These superficial units of related inputs became integrated in what is called the ego — your sense of self, your sense of who you are. As long as you allowed this inaccurate or only partial sense of who you are to dominate, you could not know or abide in your true nature.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Your ego sense is so powerful — you invest it with so much of your thought and feeling — that your attitudes of life become based on an egocentric perspective. The ego gains a progressively greater foothold on your entire life because your basic attitudes about your existence and essential nature are strongly linked with ego.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Then, your ego sense, due to your suffering or your limitations in life, wants to have more power over circumstances and a more pleasant life. The ego sense often becomes motivated to seek higher consciousness and, thus, greater ability to dominate in life. Not always, but often, it is the ego sense which most eagerly pursues higher consciousness. It wants to be in charge; it wants to manipulate events and make life come out more to its satisfaction. But, as long as your ego dominates, it is on a collision course with your true nature and your higher consciousness. There’s going to be a showdown. There has to be a confrontation sometime if your higher consciousness is ever to emerge, if you are ever to know truly who you are and what your human</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>capabilities are.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three">Furthermore — and this is extremely important, especially in understanding the dark night of the soul — your ego, as it develops from childhood onward, has the conviction that <span class="enhance">it is the doer. </span>Generally, your ego assumes that it chooses what your mind will think, and chooses what your heart will feel. It feels it selects the various actions and activities you are going to undertake. Your sense of self, being convinced it is the doer, feels it accomplishes anything and everything in your life. Do you see, then, how the dark night develops? A false sense of self has been ignorantly and manipulative standing in the way of enlightenment.</span></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Additionally, until you are <span class="enhance">consolidated </span>in higher consciousness, your ego can return and re-establish control if you let it. Sometimes when you’re fatigued or when you have special, new opportunities in life, you are vulnerable to the re-establishment of your ego and its opinion that it is in charge of doing everything. It will again eclipse the higher consciousness until you recognize what has happened. Then you must courageously and consciously reaffirm your true nature, and deal with the upstart, old ego. Otherwise, another dark night phase will again develop.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>Attempts of the Ego..</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>A person seeking higher consciousness is, in effect, and with intensity, seeking the transformation of his own ego. He is seeking to end the tyranny of the ego and abide <span class="enhance">in his true nature, </span>instead of a false nature concocted through experiences and emotional inputs during the process of life. While it is true these inputs have a value in subjecting you to new experiences and so offer unique learning situations, they often give you a illusory sense of self. You are not your mistake. Even a murderer can change and become a new being.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Still, as you progress toward higher consciousness, your ego may not be humbling and daily transforming itself. You may, instead, have a highly developed ego which is sure that it is causing the events of higher consciousness to unfold bit by bit. Your ego, after all, can be very interested in the attributes of higher consciousness, in meditation and association with enlightened beings. Your ego feels gratification and satisfaction in moving on down the road toward higher consciousness.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Your ego may also have the opinion that, because of its grasp of matters, it will one day establish or — by its thought process and feelings —bring about enlightenment and awakening. It is convinced that it will achieve higher consciousness. This is ironic because by the time of the dark night, <span class="enhance">the ego is the main obstacle; </span>it is the obstruction of the light of consciousness. It stands between you and your fulfilment In fact, the length of your dark night is based on the truculence and cunning of your ego. It can fight a very lengthy battle if it fears it’s going to be destroyed or will have to give in to something so much greater than it knows itself to be.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><span class="three">Incredibly, your ego wants to be in on the act of enlightenment. Ego wants to bring about higher consciousness by its own dramatic means. Certainly, it doesn’t want to be granted fulfilment by a power outside of itself. Convinced that <span class="enhance">it is the doer, </span>your ego holds on for dear life — until that event called the dark night of the soul, when your ego awakens to the profound fact it cannot cause or bring about higher consciousness.</span></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Ego cannot, by its will or any other skills whatever, create the wholeness of heart which will end your deep suffering. In a sense your ego recognizes itself — in the dark night — to be the disease. It recognizes that its foothold on your mind and heart has, at an advanced stage on your path, proven a great numbing agent and a high stone wall against the light. Ego stands against the fulfilment of your faith and the realization of your profoundest yearnings. Finally your ego has found something it cannot do and, in the dark night of the soul, it becomes totally convinced it is inadequate. It cannot deal with your suffering or the fulfilment of the heart’s yearning. Nothing it can do, think, say, buy, or travel to, will in any way suffice.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2985043092_5744858375.jpg"/></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em>Dawn In Of A New Life...</em></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Here in this dark night, the lifelong ego sense dies: impotent. Having fulfilled its part, now weak and incompetent, it is dissolved — transmuted. From a higher sense now awakening within you, you slough off your false sense of self. You now know yourself to be a different person than you thought you were. Your ego was merely experiencing some of the attributes, some of the qualities, of your true nature, while at the same time obstructing others.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>You, in passing successfully through the dark night, enter the realms of higher consciousness. You’ve been cleansed of the most deep-rooted sickness: your ignorance of your true nature and your inadequate, often totally wrong opinion of who you are. You now cease your inner conflict and abide serenely in your true nature. The night is over. The dawn of a new life in higher consciousness transforms your bleak life of the past few months into one with a heavenly nature. You have been delivered of the intolerable bondage to ego.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>Henceforth, you will walk the earth seeing others afresh, living a new life, and abiding in your true nature. You have become a son or daughter of higher consciousness. Now your words and actions will be attuned with your true self. Now you express inspiration and comfort.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>The dark night has passed. It is over.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em> </em></span></p>
<p class="reflection" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>REFLECTION</em></span></p>
<p></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em><img border="0" src="http://www.themystic.org/images/r-dark-night.gif" alt="What must the caterpillar do that it may one day fly?"/></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008080;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g45PgMJMqLY?autoplay=1&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008080;"><em>SOURCE:<a href="http://www.themystic.org/dark-night/new-life.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #008080;">HERE</span></a></em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; color: #333399;" class="font-size-4"><strong><em>To me via my own personal experience..I believe..</em></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; color: #008080;"><em>The Caterpillar must endure hardship, the dangers surrounding him in mother nature, long and arduous battles and once he succumbs to it all he rests, He encases himself in a shelter and hides away from the world until he is strong enough to bare his wings and show everyone the beauty of him that he so elegantly battled to achieve.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; color: #008080;"><em> That is what the Caterpillar endures to one day learn how to fly...</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008080;">√ℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><em><img src="https://jessicadavidsonauthor.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/spiritual-crisis-centre-image.jpeg?w=982" alt="Image result for dark night of the soul"/></em></span></p> Shadow Work Links List and Referencestag:elvenworld.ning.com,2016-10-16:2735650:Topic:457232016-10-16T16:26:23.543ZCarl Gustaf Prienhttps://elvenworld.ning.com/profile/TheGreatSea
<p>“Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the Shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” – <i>CW 13: Alchemical Studies, par 335, pg 265 – Carl Gustav Jung</i></p>
<p>“No one will reach Heaven by flying. The downward journey into darkness is the…</p>
<p>“Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the Shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” – <i>CW 13: Alchemical Studies, par 335, pg 265 – Carl Gustav Jung</i></p>
<p>“No one will reach Heaven by flying. The downward journey into darkness is the gateway to the Light.” – <i>The Book of Stones</i></p>
<p>“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” – Isaiah 45:7</p>
<ul>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://kundalini-teacher.com/guidance/shadow.php" target="_blank">Kundalini Teacher – The Shadow Self</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Personal_Growth/id/34907#.UKes74fBGSp" target="_blank">Healing the Shadow and The Mirror of Relationship</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://safloweressences.co.za/shadow.html" target="_blank">South African Essences and The Shadow Self</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://gwion.tripod.com/index22.html" target="_blank">The Shadow Self</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/ShadowSelf.html" target="_blank">Reiki and the Shadow Self</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://psikoloji.fisek.com.tr/jung/shadow.htm" target="_blank">Jung on the Shadow</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.streamsoflight.com/ego.html" target="_blank">Ego’s Repression and Denial of Spirit</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.reconnections.net/shadow2.htm" target="_blank">About Shadow Work</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/gift_of_the_shadow.htm" target="_blank">Gift of the Shadow</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/the_shadow_process.htm" target="_blank">Shadow Process</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/befriending_the_shadow.htm" target="_blank">Befriending the Shadow</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/goddess_kali.htm" target="_blank">The Goddess Kali Helps Us Dance with Hungry Ghosts of the Past</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/reclaiming_the_shadow.htm" target="_blank">A Process for Reclaiming the Shadow</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/shadow_of_fear.htm" target="_blank">Recognizing the Shadow of Fear</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/embracing_our_dark_side.htm" target="_blank">Embracing Our Dark Side</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/in_quest_of_ourselves.htm" target="_blank">Braving the Dark Continent – In Quest of Ourselves</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.theshadoweffect.com/" target="_blank">The Shadow Effect</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shadowdance.com/" target="_blank">The Shadow Dance</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.awakening-intuition.com/ShadowDancing.html" target="_blank">Shadow Dancing</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.yoni.com/bitchf/shadow.shtml" target="_blank">The Shadow Knows</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.drsmick.com/payments/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=21" target="_blank">Drs. Mick – Shadow Self</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=-46X8VXHA_UC&q=shadow#v=snippet&q=shadow&f=false" target="_blank">“The Book of Stones” – Shadow Integration Crystals</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ofspirit.com/lindamarks23.htm" target="_blank">Integrating Sexuality and Spirituality</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hecatescauldron.org/The%20Goddess%20Hecate.htm" target="_blank">The Goddess Hecate</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=AMy_jLQcVKsC&q=Hecate#v=onepage&q=Hecate&f=false" target="_blank">Hecate info. from “Hades Moon” by Judy Hall</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://howtoraiseyourvibration.blogspot.co.at/2011/03/healing-shadow.html" target="_blank">How to Raise Your Vibration - Healing the Shadow</a></li>
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